As the holidays arrive and the temperatures take a dip, those struggling with homelessness are on the minds of many helpers in the Metro community, as they expect to see record numbers in the coming weeks. 

“We’re seeing a lot more people come in for services,” said Amber Tompkins. “As the weather continues to go cold, I’m sure we’ll continue to see more folks.”

Tompkins is the vice president of Central Iowa Shelter and Services and said the downtown facility has housed roughly 200 people a night in recent months, an increase over the same months the year before. In fact, at one point this year during a particularly cold spell, Tompkins said the downtown shelter had more than double the number of residents than they were equipped for.

“Well, 326 people in the building is a lot since we only have 150 beds,” she told WHO-13’s Katie Kaplan. “So, we had to get some cots from Emergency Management.”

In addition to providing a safe and warm shelter, the facility offers various services and three meals a day, thanks to a dedicated staff and team of volunteers like Larry Holmes. On Monday, a WHO-13 camera found Holmes working hard in the kitchen preparing a chicken dinner for residents. He said he planned to help prepare the shelter’s Thanksgiving meal later in the week because he likes “being able to help the residents.”

A helping heart is what most of the helpers at the shelter seem to share. 

Roughly ten people had volunteered to spend their holiday at the shelter serving those utilizing its services, Tompkins said. Most of the turkeys had been donated. The shelter is expected to feed around 250 people, which is about how many people show up for each meal on a regular day, said Tompkins

While she said the increase in people receiving services at the shelter lines up with expanded hours and additional outreach, it also is a trend reflected in the county’s latest Point-In-Time survey, and that’s being echoed by others who serve those in need.

“What we’ve seen at Hope Ministries over the last year or so is that our meal numbers every single day are steadily increasing,” said Kathy Coady.

Coady is the chief development officer for the organization and said that they will be providing a total of 4,000 Thanksgiving dinners on Thursday after adding 500 meals this year.

“We know that we have not yet hit the cap of what the need is in our community,” she said. “So it just continues to grow and we’re going to continue to grow as much as we can to help fill that need.”

The organization has a policy that volunteers do not ask people why they need those meals, she said. Essentially, the need speaks for itself. 

The City of Des Moines’ homeless population has been a hot topic in recent months after the City Council passed two ordinance changes in September that aim to decrease the public presence of people living in makeshift camps. The rules, which changed the city’s Municipal Code to make camping out on public property fineable and which will make it easier to remove camps, will not go into effect until sometime around the new year, said the director of the Neighborhood Services department. The delay is to give the city time to implement several supplemental plans to support those who may be impacted. 

However, as organizations were preparing to feed what could be a record number of mouths on Monday afternoon, the city was busy cleaning up several homeless encampments.

Most of the organizations who provide homeless outreach operate off of donations, or “patch” funding together from various sources.

A $28-a-month pledge to the shelter will help cover the cost of one person per day who utilizes its services. Meanwhile, Hope Ministries is holding a donation drive on Wednesday. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the public can drop off food donations at Hope Café (1310 6th Ave, Des Moines).

Needed food donation items include:

-Ready to serve dinner rolls
-Cookies (two per baggie)
-Ground beef, pork loin, bacon, ham
-Milk, cheese, eggs, butter
-#10 cans of green beans or mixed veggies
-Condiments and salad dressing

And, Coady said, they will do it all again in a few weeks for their Christmas meal.